Project Management Process and Leadership Role of Project Managers - Case Study Example

Project Management Student’s Name University Affiliation Date INTRODUCTION Projects are somehow different from the normal business activities of an organization. Projects require individuals to work together in a temporary situation to meet specific project requirements (Lock, 2007). The success of a project relies fundamentally on effective teamwork. Project management involves managing diverse project packages to achieve individual goals and aims at producing an outcome that would result in a change that would be of benefit to the organization that administers the project (Deeprose, 2002). Project management involves the process of project initiation, planning and the project control of various project tasks. For instance, a project management could be of a physical development of a plan or an intangible development of software. The project has various managerial processes and phases that happens systematically and need to be well understood by every project manager. Leadership is the primary responsibilities of a project manager to ensure that there are an adequate flow of activities, efficient duty allocation and management of personal factors to the effective accomplishment of the project goals (Lock, 2007). Leadership is the process by which an individual has the capability of affecting the attitudes and thoughts of others towards carrying out organizational activities. The primary objective of a leader is to direct others. Without leadership, organizations would fall into numerous conflicts that would tremendously affect its growth and existence (Deeprose, 2002). Effective leadership is essential since it helps an organization in times of peril. Leadership enables an organization to meet its set objectives. Without effective leadership, most organizations would have either a slow or stagnant development Leaderships involve the motivation and guidance offered to individuals for the realization of the challenging organizational goals (Lock, 2007). Therefore, leaders need to inspire those individuals under them to meet development initiatives and encourage new processes in problem-solving. Though transactional leadership is suitable in organizational processes, organizations are encouraged to develop a transformational leadership style that is useful in dealing with relations. Projects are a means for organizations to achieve its objectives. Two factors that associate with engineering project leadership that includes the leadership and management roles for the project managers (Deeprose, 2002). First, projects manage teams that possess different disciplines, and second, the characteristics of projects are on their complexity and risks. As a result, management functions that include the planning, organization and control roles should be useful in the management of engineering projects (Lock, 2007). DISCUSSION Since projects are one of the ways to meet organizational objectives, the fail or success of a project depends on the leadership skill and responsibilities of a project manager. Project success is how best a project can meet the overall project objectives. Project management success is the measure of performance towards the completion of a project I a stipulated time, scope and costs that result to the resultant project quality. Stakeholder requirements should consider the consideration of the scope, time and cost. Though extensions are allowed to heritage listed building, there has to be a similarity between the older buildings and the new building. The building in the same location has to be in a similar style. Project management process Control Since projects experience problems, the project manager has to ensure that this problem do not cause a severe impact on the result of the project (Lewis, 2007). The project manager needs to have risk management skills to have an effective control over the problems that arises in the course of the project development. Monitoring Though planning is a role in the earlier stage of project development, continuous monitoring is required (Lewis, 2007). Planning ensures that the project is in line with the budget and schedule, control also provides adequate resource availability so that there is an achievement in the expected results. People management Project development requires diverse individual responsibilities and task allocation (Lewis, 2007). Therefore, a project manager needs to oversee the different workings as well as the responsibilities associated with every individual. The project manager handles the motivation of the people involved in the project activities. Communication An effective communication helps in the avoidance of problems due to the presence of honest communication between the personnel participating in the project development (Lewis, 2007). Phases in project management Initiation Initiation is the first stage in a project development. Admission gives the justification for the process to ensure that the project stays on the stipulated track. The introduction outlines the anticipated achievement of a project, the best way to achieve the set objectives and the scope of the project work (Deeprose, 2002). In the initiation stage, responsibility assignment to individuals who will involve in the project would be necessary. Requirements The documentation of the project requirement is necessary since it would give a guideline and description of the project. The requirement documentation will also consider the timescales and constraints (Lewis, 2007). The project manager would use the requirement document to ensure that the project agrees with the requirements and that the project objectives are effective. Planning A project plan outlines the details on the scheduling of a project work. Planning also involves the control and monitoring of a project (Lewis, 2007). Planning incorporates the scheduling of the project tasks. Gantt chart is the standard tool that project managers uses to schedule project tasks and responsibilities. Execution Individuals in the project development need to know the descriptions of their responsibilities towards the accomplishment of the project objectives (Clarke, 2010). People should also have adequate information on the timescales and dependencies on every project stage. These individuals also need to understand the expected way of the project completion. Closure Closure entails approving of the project end product and the closure of the project. The project managers then review upon the project milestones such as mistakes and also the success (Clarke, 2010).The mistakes and success of a project would assist the project managers to plan for the next project. Leadership Role of Project Managers Projects are unique and deal with various unknowns and uncertainties. Leadership obtains a greater importance when there are significant changes in a project. Therefore, the project manager would assume different leadership roles. Leadership always has an important influence on aligning workers and motivating them in the achievement of the project objectives. Project work includes tasks that require individuals from different disciplines. Therefore, there should be adequate coordination for the accomplishment of project constraints. Since project managers exercise the multidisciplinary approaches to leadership, there is a need for individuals from different functions. Therefore, it is necessary for roles and processes to have a clear definition so as to achieve stability and order. Definition of project management roles would lead to the development of formal methods that would help in facilitating and understanding of the requirements needed for both external and internal project support (Clarke, 2010). Project managers need to develop aspects of openness and transparency in the communication that would lead to enhancing human relationships. The leadership process Step 1: leadership commitment and orientation Leadership commitment and orientation are the first steps in the leadership role of a project manager (Anantatmula, 2010). The project manager has to be clear about high performance of a project in this stage. Therefore, the project leaders need to understand the differences between the high performance and traditional work systems to be able to insinuate the transformation process of the project. The managers need to explore their trust level on other individuals and identify any change that may be of need that may affect the organization. Step 2: Project and group assessment The primary role of this stage is to obtain a comprehensive analysis of an organization by creating a universal state of the project (Clarke, 2010). The application of the transformation model works as a primary framework for the project analysis. Project assessment enables the surfacing of potential project problems and creates a sense of direction and indication for any change that the project manager may need to make in the course of the project development. Step3: Strategy and vision development The major project leaders need to develop the project vision and mission based on project realities. In this step, project managers go through the set strategies to fit the project requirements (Grant, et, al., 2001). The project manager needs to fulfill the following in attempting to develop the mission and vision of the project; Ability to foresee any project situation Clarification of the project mission that targets the motivation and inspiration of other individuals. Understand the current development in project management. Creation of a longtime project focuses that may have a distinction from other projects. Identification of appropriate approaches to the master plan of the project in the strategy implementation. Step 4: change process charter The project managers need to create a design charter that gives an outline of the anticipated outcomes of the project. This charter would help in the allocation of resource, establishment of timeframes and identification of individual that most suits the project development (Grant, et, al., 2001). The project manager then shares the charter with the work colleagues for the mutual understanding on how the transformation process will occur. Step 5: Project performance management This is the fifth and final stage in the project leadership role. Segmentation of work into different functional areas leads to poor communication and general project inefficiency. Therefore, a project manager needs to develop a standard plan that would help in a management process of the project (Clarke, 2010). First, the manager needs to relay the importance of teamwork to the employees in relevance to the stipulated project outcome. Leadership skills that a project manager should possess Inspiring a shared vision Project managers need to have a vision and understand various ways to articulate this vision. A project manager with vision can draw new boundaries to the project management. A leader is a person who lifts the organization as well as the employees to a greater level and gives others the spirit to accommodate the change (Anantatmula, 2010). A visionary project leader makes people feel that they are of importance to the whole organization and a particular segment of the organization. Visionaries encourage employees and other people to have visions that are similar to them. A project manager needs to acquire a leadership role that would enable the achievement of organizational objective about the individual vision (Clarke, 2010). A good communicator The manager should have the ability to communicate effectively across all levels of people in the project. More often, project leadership always calls for a clear communication on responsibilities, goals, performance and general expectations from every individual. Since project leaders are the team links in an organization, they need to have the ability to negotiate effectively with the success of the project and the team. Through excellent communication, project managers support both group and individual to meet their goals. As a result, creation of a course of team advancement comes up (Clarke, 2010). Problem-solving capabilities Project leaders need to have a perfect problem-solving skills that would enable them to make innovative solutions to problems faced during project management duties (Clarke, 2010). Project managers need to be able to give a quick and responsive solution to various problems that may emerge in the project. Calm under pressure More often than not, projects are associated with different problems that need a sober approach in dealing with them. Therefore, project leaders that have a perfect attitude towards project problems come in handy in the solutions to the problems. Leaders should be able to work under stressful and pressuring work conditions (Anantatmula, 2010). They can affect such problems and see them as an opportunity for greater levels. From the existence of uncertainty, this value helps project managers to obtain a new image of the possibilities that would pull the project participants to be in unison. Team building skills A team builder means a person who is capable of providing the necessities that would hold a team together (Clarke, 2010). For a project manager to be a team builder, he needs to have the capability of understanding the differences dynamics that is required for any unit to be progressive. A team builder should have an understanding of the team players and how to combine the team player styles in the solution for the current problem. Ability to delegate work Ability to delegate work is a leadership skill that demonstrates how best a project manager checks, controls, and delegate work to allow every individual to participate in the overall development of the project (Grant, et, al., 2001). People, who cannot trust other individuals always fall in the duties and, in most cases, end up performing most of the functions by themselves (Anantatmula, 2010). Competence A project leader should be able to lead others successfully (Grant, et, al., 2001). To be competent, a project leader has to have a winning track of records. Another dimension of project leader competence is the ability to have efficient leadership skills and the ability to offer encouragement, inspire and model work activities or the benefit of the organization. People related enablers and barriers to project management Projects do have a standard process and characteristic, making the leadership roles of a project manager to be almost similar to every project. Some project features such as the resource allocation require efficient communications with all stakeholders to enhance the ability of the project manager in handling unexpected problems (Clarke, 2010). The communication may include consultation with the client to ensure that the outcome of a project is to the best expectations of the customer. The manager needs to have a clear project mission to enhance collaborative effort and teamwork in the execution of the project. Create clarity in communication- According to Anantatmula (2010) communication is the primary person enabler to the practical accomplishment and meeting the project goals and objectives. Communication between individuals should be effective to enable project manager to have insight on the possible problems and the solution to the problems at hand that a project faces Define roles and responsibilities- a project manager needs to assign individual responsibilities and tasks for every individual to enable a good flow of responsibilities and work assignments (Clarke, 2010). A definite role means that a person has specific work responsibility to carry out and do not need to engage in other project activities to enable the project completion in the stipulated period. Communicate expectations- The project manager needs to communicate expectations of every individual towards meeting the project objectives and goals (Deeprose, 25). Employ consistent processes-employment of constant process enable the step by step accomplishment of project tasks. Establish trust- a project manager who does not believe other individuals in carrying out work activities end up doing all the work by himself. Delegations of job activities to other individuals need trust in their competence and performance. A project manager should show confidence in other individuals by assigning them project responsibilities, PROJECT V & V contractor is an Engineering and construction company that deals in the construction of residential buildings in Australia. The contractor has a contract for building one residential house in the vicinity of Melbourne town. The underlying project is V & V project. The project manager of V & V project has to consider various constraints of the project. The triple constraints of a project The quality of a project fundamentally depends on the time, scope and the cost of the project, and any change of the three constraints affects the overall quality of a project. The triple constraints give a clear description of three constraints that every project has to undergo. These three constraints are often displayed in a triangle with quality at the center of the triangle. Cost- every engineering project has a definite budget that incurs some costs. Costs are closely related to resources, and costs will increase if there is any shortage of resources, meaning, allocation of more resources would be necessary. The resources may include things such as; equipment, labor and material that may be useful in the execution of the project. Time- time is a factor that is not recoverable in any project. Restriction on the schedule may result to a significant influence on cost or scope. The driving factor of time is the schedule. Schedule allocates possible duration of each activity on the project that sums up to give the duration for the actual completion of the whole project. A project manager may opt to reduce scope or leave out subsequent phases in the project development. Scope- the project scope determines the quality of the project end product. Scope creep is of the risks that face the project quality. Scope creep is a situation whereby addition requirements may be done after the project is underway. More often than not, the scope creep increases the cost o may lead to a change in the schedule. WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE A work breakdown structure is a structure or schedule that consists of the decomposition for the execution of work for the accomplishment of a project displayed in a hierarchical manner. WDS organizes the total scope of a project to see that the project follows precise steps for its effective accomplishment. Moreover, a WDS contains a detailed definition of various works to be carried out in the project. WDS composes the external and internal deliverables that support the project work. Work Breakdown Structure of V & V project CODE TASK level1 level2 level3 level4 level5 Concatenate count substitute find code final 1.0 Proposed residential flat 1 0 1.0.... 2 1.0?... 4 1.0 1.0 1.1 full self contained house 1 1 0 1.1.0... 3 1.1.0?... 6 1.1.0 1.1 1.1.1 Architectural plan 1 1 1 0 1.1.1.0.. 4 1.1.1.0?... 8 1.1.1.0 1.1.1 1.1.1.2 Dining area 1 1 1 2 0 1.1.1.2.0. 5 1.1.1.2.0? 10 1.1.1.2.0 1.1.1.2 1.1.1.3 Kitchen 1 1 1 3 0 1.1.1.3.0. 5 1.1.1.3.0? 10 1.1.1.3.0 1.1.1.3 1.1.1.4 Bedrooms 1 1 1 4 0 1.1.1.4.0. 5 1.1.1.4.0? 10 1.1.1.4.0 1.1.1.4 1.1.1.5 Washrooms and cloak rooms 1 1 1 5 0 1.1.1.5.0. 5 1.1.1.5.0? 10 1.1.1.5.0 1.1.1.5 1.1.1.6 Balcony 1 1 1 6 0 1.1.1.6.0. 5 1.1.1.6.0? 10 1.1.1.6.0 1.1.1.6 1.2 Roof system 1 2 0 1.2.0... 3 1.2.0?... 6 1.2.0 1.2 1.3 Electrical Installation 1 3 0 1.3.0... 3 1.3.0?... 6 1.3.0 1.3 1.4 Plumbing Installations 1 4 0 1.4.0... 3 1.4.0?... 6 1.4.0 1.4 1.5 Painting work 1 5 0 1.5.0... 3 1.5.0?... 6 1.5.0 1.5 1.6 Ground Leveling 1 6 0 1.6.0... 3 1.6.0?... 6 1.6.0 1.6 1.7 Site clearance 1 7 0 1.7.0... 3 1.7.0?... 6 1.7.0 1.7 From the work breakdown structure, 1.0 represents the project title-Proposed Residential Flat.1.1 explains the kind of project. i.e., full self-contained house. All activities under the kind of project, 1.1, there is the architectural plan, i.e. 1.1.1. Various activities were outlined under the architectural plan i.e. 1.1.1.2, 1.1.1.3, 1.1.1.3, 1.1.1.4, 1.1.1.5, and 1.1.1.1.6 which includes Dining area, Kitchen, Bedrooms, Washrooms and cloak rooms, and Balcony respectively. These activities are the main components of the architectural plan that is necessary before any other activity. Activities noted by 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, and 1.7 are the subsequent activities in their order of completion after the major components of the architectural plan is done. These activities include; Roof system, Electrical Installation, Plumbing Installations, Painting work, Ground Leveling, and lastly Site clearance in that order. 1.1: Architectural plan- an architectural plan is an overall outlook or the expected outlook for a building or construction after completion. Under the architectural plan, the project manager outlines the various expected house partitioning with their measures. For instance, the architectural plan for the full-self contained house has various segments such as the dining area, kitchen, bedrooms, washrooms and cloakrooms, and the balcony. 1.2: Roofing system- the roof system involves choosing from various roofing styles that would best fit the house. For this project, a steep slope, a metal roof system was used. The primary benefit of the metal roof system is that it resists passage of water at laps that would destroy the wood.. The roofing system also has strong characteristics that would allow it to span supporting roofing techniques. 1.3: Electrical Installation-electrical installation includes all the electric activities on the project. The electrical installation considers the stipulated guide on how every electrical designer has to carry out an electrical installation. For instance, other factors such as protection against electric shocks and protection against high voltage have to be the main focus of the project manager to ensure that there is no possibility of future occurrences of such situations. 1.4: Plumbing installation-pluming involves all activities that range from the installation of the fitting systems, valves, pipes and fixtures to enable water distribution and waste removal. 1.4: Painting work- painting of different surfaces was essential after the completion of plumbing. The final outlook of the structure somehow depends on its painting. Choosing the right painting means that the house would be appealing and welcoming. Everybody loves a welcoming house! 1.5: Ground leveling- ground leveling is the process of placing the floor of a building at the nearest ground level. It involves digging out small heaps of soil and spreading it to acquire a uniform level. 1.6: Site clearance-site clearance is cleaning off the site compound, removing any ditches or materials. Site clearance has safety as the major objective. It ensures that there is no harmful object left on the site that might cause any harm to the residents. Challenges in the creation of Work breakdown structure To have an effective accomplishment of a work package, the project manager needs to formulate little detail requirements. Therefore, the creation of the work breakdown becomes tiresome because of the tiresome compression of activities into few packages that are easy to follow. The package that has too many details become a task for the project manager to manage. Since WDS is not a project document, any change made to it results in a change in the whole control process and ultimately, change and the scope of the project. Therefore, the creation of the Work breakdown schedule needs a precise outline of the derivable that will enable the accomplishment of the project. GANTT CHART RESIDENTIAL FLAT TASK START DATE DURATIONIN DAYS END DATE ARCHITECTURAL PLAN 01-Aug 7 07-Aug DINING AREA 12-Aug 6 15-Aug KITCHEN 01-Sep 5 06-Sep BEDROOM 07-Sep 10 17-Sep WASHROOM AND CLOAK ROOMS 21-Sep 10 31-Sep BALCONY 01-Oct 5 06-Oct ROOFING SYSTEM 08-Oct 12 20-Oct ELECTRICL INSTALLATIONS 22-Oct 10 02-Sep PLUMBING INSTALLATIONS 05-Nov 12 17-Nov PAINTING WORK 20-Nov 10 30-Nov GROUND LAVELLING 05-Dec 7 12-Dec SITE CLEARANCE 18-Dec 3 23-Dec Gantt charts are used by project managers to foresee project schedules in the project accomplishment. Gantt charts provide various importance to the project managers since it offers motivation, clarity and time management. Challenges in Gantt chart formation First, Gantt chart depends strongly on the work breakdown structure to be complete. Gantt chart does not display any missing task from the WDS. Therefore, a change in the Work breakdown Schedule would ultimately result to change the information in the Gantt chart. Second problem faced in Gantt chart formation is that the chart do not include factors such as time, scope and cost. A Gantt chart does not reflect the cost of the project. PERT CHART ID- the ID indicates the workflow of the project activities. For instance ID1, which is the architectural plan, is the completion of the first work would lead to the start of work with ID2. Therefore the last ID, ID 11 comes last in the workflow. ARCHITECTURAL PLAN START DAY:1-aug ID:1 FINISH DAY:7-aug DURATION:7 Dining Area START DAY:12-aug ID:2 FINISH DAY:18-aug DURATION:6 Kitchen START DAY:1-Sep ID:3 FINISH DAY:6 –Sep DURATION:5 Bedrooms START DAY:7-Sep ID:4 FINISH DAY:17-Sep DURATION:10 washrooms and cloak rooms START DAY:21-Sep ID:4 FINISH DAY:31-Sep DURATION:10 Balcony START DAY:1-Oct ID:5 FINISH DAY:6-Oct DURATION:5 Roofing System START DAY:8-Oct ID:6 FINISH DAY:20-Oct DURATION:12 Electrical Installations START DAY:22-Oct ID:7 FINISH DAY:2-Sep DURATION:10 Plumbing Installations START DAY:5-Nov ID:8 FINISH DAY:17-Nov DURATION:12 Painting Work START DAY:20-Nov ID:9 FINISH DAY:30 Nov DURATION:10 Ground leveling START DAY:5-Dec ID:10 FINISH DAY:12-Dec DURATION:7 site clearance START DAY:18-Dec ID:11 FINISH DAY:23-Dec DURATION:3 Limitations of pert charts Pert chart presumes a beta distribution of time estimates even if there is a well estimated time for every activity. Therefore, the actual distribution of activities may be different. Besides, pert chart assumes that the completion time should be similar to the time in the critical path even though the beta distribution of project time holds. Since other paths may be critical paths when there is a delay on any activity, PERT chart always underestimates the expected time for the completion of the project. Also, every action depends on and are subjective on the project manager judgment. Limited experience in performing activities may lead to a number that may be a guess. Therefore, the timing may be biasing in the estimation of time duration for every activity. How I overcame the challenges faced in PERT chart creation I carried out Monte Carlo simulations on the network so as to eliminate the optimistic biases in the completion time of the project that was expected. HERITAGE LISTING There are various limitations on a heritage listed construction site. Heritage properties need to have a similar look and feel. The Little renovation is allowed to heritage listed properties. The V &V project is a residential flat building. The buildings within the vicinity of V&V construction project are on the heritage list and, therefore, have a potential influence on any building similar heights. The project proposals should have similarities when a comparison between the proposed projects with the buildings already existing in the area. The height of the complete project must be similar to the heights of the existing buildings Lack of adequate information on project development may lead to discrepancies between the stipulated regulations and the approvals that the City authority grants. The provisions only allow for an exemption of 18 meters limit on the height. Developers, therefore, need to have the right to develop according to the planning approvals. Moreover, there are limited innovations in the building. For instance, if the building were listed for architecture, then, the owners would be free to carry out an update of the interior design of the building but not the architectural look of the structure. In heritage listing, the appearance of a building is dictated by the appearance of the buildings around the construction site. Therefore, there should be some similarities in the appearance and architectural outlook of such buildings that are heritage listed. CONCLUSION Since projects are a means for any organizations to achieve its objectives there are two factors links the engineering project leadership that includes the leadership and management roles for the project managers (Deeprose, 2002). Projects manage various teams that possess different disciplines, and second, the characteristics of projects are based on their complexity and risks. As a result, management functions that include the planning, organization and control roles should be sufficient in the management of engineering projects (Grant, et, al., 2001). The project manager needs to know the plans and budget for the project. He also decides the individuals to take up various project tasks and how these activities would result in the success of the project. The project manager should be able to make decisions in resolving various project problems that may arise in the course of the project development. The project managers, therefore, combine various tasks to make the project activities to run efficiently. Running project activities requires effective administration responsibilities on the part of the project manager. Though leadership is in shorter supply in comparison with the administrative competence, it is critical and demanding for the existence of organizations and projects. Leaders, therefore, take a wider organizational role towards the success of the organization (Clarke, 2010). The project manager has a broader role and as much as being a project administrator, he has to be a leader. The project manager sets directions for the other individuals to follow and makes sure that the individuals promptly follows work rules, and regulations. The project manager should also provide the project mission and implement various strategy for the project completion. Therefore, the project manager needs to employ effective and efficient communication between individuals. Leadership is the primary responsibility of a project manager that helps in ensuring that there is an adequate flow of activities. Moreover, leadership also provides efficient duty allocation and management of personal factors to the effective accomplishment of the project goals. Leadership involves the process by which an individual has the capability of affecting the attitudes and thoughts of others towards carrying out organizational activities. According to Clarke (2010) the primary objective of a leader is to direct others and give solutions to project problems. Above all, without leadership, organizations would fall into numerous conflicts that would tremendously affect its growth and existence. Effective leadership is essential since it helps an organization in times of peril. Leadership enables an organization to meet its set objectives. Without effective leadership, most organizations would have either a slow or stagnant development. REFERENCES Anantatmula, V. (2010). Project Manager Leadership Role in Improving Project Performance. Engineering Management Journal, 22(1), 13-22. doi:10.1080/10429247.2010.11431849 Clarke, N. (2010). Emotional intelligence and its relationship to transformational leadership and key project manager competences. Proj Mgmt Jrnl, 41(2), 5-20. doi:10.1002/pmj.20162 Deeprose, D. (2002). Project management. Oxford, U.K.: Capstone Pub. Grant, K., Graham, T., & Heberling, M. (2001). The Project Manager and Project Team Involvement: Implications for Project Leadership. Journal Of Leadership &Amp; Organizational Studies, 7(4), 32-42. doi:10.1177/107179190100700403 Hudson, S., & Laken, M. (2015). Use of a PERT Chart to Improve Efficiency of the Dissertation. Nursing Education Perspectives, 36(4), 257-258. doi:10.5480/13-1236 Lewis, J. (2007). Fundamentals of project management. New York: American Management Association. Lock, D. (2007). The essentials of project management. Aldershot, England: Gower. Read More